AEW superstar and TNT champion Cody Rhodes spoke to Sports Illustrated ahead of tonight’s episode of Dynamite on TNT. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
On wanting to deliver “good content” everytime he goes out to wrestle:
For me, it is all about giving the best content. I hope that’s everyone else’s goal, too. I’m doing everything I can to function at the highest of levels.
On his opponent on tonight’s Dynamite:
I don’t think Wednesday’s opponent comes from our locker room. That’s a big goal for us, spontaneity from our locker room and from outside it, too.
His love for Rey Mysterio:
The one thing Chris Jericho and I can agree on is that there is nobody greater than Rey Mysterio. That’s someone that is really special. There are people I give a lot of credit for helping me build my career, and they’re not always the obvious ones. Dusty and Dustin, of course they were involved, but they’re family. Rey Mysterio, I don’t even know if he remembers, but he changed my whole career. Rey, Randy Orton and Big Show are three people that put a great deal of work into carving out my skills as a wrestler. I didn’t know nearly as much as they did, and I still don’t. They were very important to me.
How facing talents not in AEW help elevate his title and the wrestler’s status:
It’s important we access those opponents, the ones that do not work for AEW. We need to always be aware of the world around us. One of the charming things about what we’ve been doing is we’ve been real and we’ve been transparent. Wrestling exists outside of AEW, we are aware of that. We try to be the best wrestling, and I really think we are, but there is great wrestling outside of us, too. It’s important for us to acknowledge that. I love seeing when people that don’t work here put in an effort to try to get some notice or acknowledgement for the TNT Championship. That’s wonderful. When we say it’s an open challenge, I think you’ll see in the next few weeks that we mean open.
Wanting to be at the top of the business and the spirit of competition:
I love the spirit of competition. That’s less to do with pro wrestling and more to do with my internal makeup. I look around at our roster, and I want nothing more than to be more talented than them. I don’t mean that in a mean-spirited way. All I ever wanted was to be at the absolute top of this business. I’ve learned it’s important to accomplish that with a moral compass. I want to do this honestly, and I will work, train, and will myself to be the best.